Taking light as raw material and using it as a tool for building visual spaces, Juan Manuel Alcala Gutierrez, a Master’s student in design and Architectural modeling from CICE Madrid, puts a photographic concept store together, merged with an area of restoration for the 9th PORCELANOSA Grupo Awards.
The concept
Finalist in the Students’ future Projects at the 9th PORCELANOSA Grupo Awards, the project combines photography with architecture from the visual design, materializing it in the use of light as a starting point. Thus, the concept store is conceived from the very heart of photography: the photographic lens and diaphragm, key pieces that articulate the distribution of space and light itself.
Through the camera lens, light enters the space and creates different combinations of lights and shadows, as if it were a light drawing. The result takes the visitors to the store to experience the feeling of being inside a camera, the place where light is both captured and softened.
The diaphragm is the figure on which the ground is set: two concentric hexagons that serve as a rest area and exhibition space, and distribute and structure further the different rooms. These are located at different heights or depths. They are connected by illuminated ramps which visually separate the space, creating a free perimeter route.
On the ground floor, two triangular cores are inside the bathrooms, whose partition walls serve outdoors as canvases, like a honeycomb, where temporary exhibitions are developed.
All this is visually closed off by means of a chain of “ribs” with sinuous shapes which simulate light waves and direct the visitor’s gaze towards the central oculus illuminating the central floor. It is between these waves where the design locates the area of restoration through benches and tables.
The materials
The materials chosen for the project are designed to maximize every particle of light that accesses this photographic concept store.
To do this, the architect has opted for using the cutting-edge material, KRION® Solid Surface, specifically in Snow White and a Grey finish, whose mineral purity provides this next-generation compact mineral with an ultra-white finish, without joints and an unmatched brightness. Its application as a coating in projects combines perfectly with the selected wall tiles and floor tiles in the project. Both the floors and walls are covered with porcelain by Venis, and the Hampton Grey and Missouri models from the same firm, both in a natural finish.
If we go into the restaurant area and the kitchen, we can see that kitchen furniture from Gamadecor in a roasted oak finish has been opted for, finished with a countertop made of the acrylic KRION® stone, a nonporous surface with antibacterial properties and high resistance to fire which makes it suitable for food use.
With regard to the bathrooms, they have been designed for maximum brightness, for which bathroom furniture in a glossy white from Gamadecor has been opted for.
All this results in a space where it is possible to capture light through the interior architecture, enjoying in equal proportion the passion for art, interior design and haute cuisine.
